LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After years of advocating, Sarah Ferguson can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"When I saw that news this morning I started to cry because it's been years, it's been years of advocating for a change like this," Sarah said.
Eli Lilly and Company announced Thursday it's cutting insulin prices by 70% this year.
Sarah's daughter Samantha was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was just 14 years old.
Though her family's insurance covers the cost of a different insulin brand, she feels the pain of other mothers. Many who lost children as a result of skyrocketing prices.
"It's big, big news for moms, you're not going to have to scramble. You're kids aren't going to have to scramble," Sarah said.
Lilly is also capping the monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 or less per month, which doctor Bradley Thrasher says is life changing.
"We all in the medical field know of patients that will ration their insulin because frankly they just can't afford it because the cost is sometimes astronomical," Thrasher said. "A lot of our patients and families are going to feel relief from it."
Sarah agrees, but says the move should've happened sooner.
"Too many people died because they couldn't get it. They couldn't get insulin," she said. "Can you imagine not being able to get the medicine that keeps you alive? So they died. And what Eli Lilly did today shows that they could've done it before."
But now that they have, Sarah says companies Novo Nordisk and Sanofi need to do the same.
"We want to see that price drop now," she said. "Go ahead and announce it."
In the meantime, Lilly says customers will see prices drop in the 4th quarter, which starts in October.
The likelihood of you or someone you know being impacted by this is huge.
More than 474,00 people in Kentucky have diagnosed diabetes. This is 13 percent of Kentucky's adult population, and the state ranks 8th in the country for diabetes.
In Indiana, more than 640,000 diabetics could be affected by this change. In the state, about 46,000 people get diagnosed with diabetes every single year.
WHAS11 contacted another top maker of insulin in the U.S., Novo Nordisk, which makes the top seller, NovoLog.
They said: "At Novo Nordisk we appreciate the importance of affordability and access for patients, and recognize that not all patient situations are the same."
The company worked with Walmart to offer vials for $25. They have an immediate supply program that helps those at risk of rationing their insulin, but the company doesn't have a price cap on their insulin.
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